Birmingham, known to a world of death and taxes as the Rev. O. Hannay, "the most racially typical of his present-day countrymen," and thus he is introduced to readers of his "The Adventures of Dr. Whitty." In this novel, he exposes the little weaknesses of Irish character and shows how easily a skillful hand may play upon them. His hero controls the priest and the parson of the little Connacht coast-town of his residence, and gently guides the two landholders of the place in the way in which they should go, by suggestions skillfully fitted to the chief weakness of each one of them, and artfully concealed by affected frankness and deference. Mr. Hannay leads him from victory to victory; and so manages that the climax is easy and natural, yet more Irish than the feats leading to it. A more cheerful group of tales has not been gathered for years, and it will be found an agreeable companion for a summer journey.

Since Stevenson's death and the following outburst of loving praise, it is not necessary to bid even the stupid to render homage to one who conquers his weak body, compelling it to allow him to reign happily in the Kingdom of his mind; but it is not alwaws possible for spectators not to rebel against the fate of genius doomed to spend half its spiritual strength in fighting its physical weakness. For instance, here is "Stowe Notes; Letters and Verses," by Edward Martin Taber. The author was a New York artist who died when but thirty-three years of age, having spent the last third of his allotted time in the only climate tolerable to his lungs, the crystalline cold winters and temperate summers of Vermont. Here he worked with pencil and brush, here he read eagerly but critically, and wrote keenly, bravely, and with delightful independence. He

would have none of Ibsen, for example, in spite of the Ibsenites; he disliked the Hardy of "Tess" and "Jude the Obscure" although he had been pleased by "Far from the Madding Crowd;" he did not fulfil the duty of the good American to open his mouth and shut his eyes and thankfully accept whatever Howells and James might choose to give him; he had an opinion of his own as to Bret Harte and Meredith, and expressed it; and from all judiciously advertised vileness he turned with frank disgust. He made pictures of the Morgan horses beloved and cherished by Vermonters; he made sympathetic illustrations for Andersen and for "Cinderella"; he sketched the French Canadian and other quaint figures of the lumber camps. He perceived the possibilities of the lumber forest if properly and intelligently treated instead of being wastefully destroyed, and spared no pains to lay them before a friend. His "Stowe Notes," classified by months, make a vivid calendar; his note-books supply additional observations for four months. The records of his journeys in the South, in New York and in the Adirondacks show that his artist eye was always on the alert. His verses, which occupy the last fifteen pages of the volume, are proof that his critical faculty was sensitive when exercised upon his own productions. His canvases won the highest praise from competent judges; but the sentence in which he himself summed up his work is the best criticism of the man. During the week before his death, he wrote to his sister, "What a gift life was, not a right!" Evidently he did not feel the spectator's dissatisfaction. His editor "F. T. H." is only just when she writes "his character is an undying possession to those who knew him." This is a book for all who can properly appreciate a manly man. Houghton Mifflin Company.

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S RAIN. No wind, nor moon, nor stars; but the blind swoon of night

Begins to quicken at large and
creep with doubtful sound.
Hark!

In the trellis, red-rose mantled, white-rose-crowned. . . . ? "Twas only a fond, half-waking bird, for mere delight

Must jubilate aloud or break his heart outright;

And now, so soon, being drowsy, ere he'd time to expound

One half his text, falls dozing, but all around

The night conspires in whisper. One great cloud, from height

To depth, from hill to sea, one cloud possesses the air; Whereout, on honey-breathing hedge and field and copse, Rain, rain with soft, incessant millionfold caress,

The United States of America is about to undertake a fiscal experiment comparable to that of Great Britain when the Corn Laws were repealed and the principle of free trade was substituted for the system of protection. Not that the Americans are immediately to adopt free trade, or to discard, either theoretically or practically, the policy of protection. But the step which is in contemplation is in the direction of free trade; the measure before Congress, which is sure to pass, is framed avowedly with the intention of encouraging the importation of foreign goods by placing domestic and foreign producers on an equality, so far as the power to compete freely is concerned; and it is as certain as any event in the future can be that if the present experiment prove successful, the system of protection of domestic productions by a tariff on imports is doomed.

It is desirable that the present writer should state frankly at the outset his point of view, in order that readers may discount his opinions in such a way as seems to them necessary. The facts will be truthfully given. Such inferences as may be drawn from them will be drawn as fairly and with as little prejudice as is possible for one who holds strong opinions on the general question of protection and free trade. Every American who has observed and studied the workings of the tariff at home during a long series of years must have preconceived opinions

#1 H. R. 3321. A Bill to reduce tariff duties and to provide revenue for the Government, and for other purposes. Sixty-third Congress, First Session. Washington: Government Printing Once. 1913.

2 "Tariff Handbook." Statistical Basis for H. R. 3321. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1913.

3 "Statistical Abstract of the United States." 912. Thirty-fifth Number. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1913.

4 "The United States Tariff Act of 1909."

on that controversy. He could not be a competent observer and diligent student of economic problems without forming opinions of his own.

The writer is theoretically a protectionist. He believes that the policy of protection as practised in the United States, whatever incidental evils it may have introduced, has been on the whole enormously beneficial in the past. But he also believes that just as the same policy was-in his judgment -instrumental in placing England in a position to dominate the manufacturing industry throughout the world, and subsequently rendered possible, wise, and indispensable the total abandonment of that policy, so it has served, particularly during the last two decades, to make the United States an efficient and successful competitor, with a great variety of its manufactured products, in the neutral markets of the world, even when the competition was with free-trade Great Britain herself. He recognizes, in short, that the need of protective duties has wholly ceased for numerous branches of American industry; that the number of such branches increases year by year; and that there has never been a time in the past when the impending experiment could have been made with so good a chance of success as it has to-day. His point of view, then, is that of one who looks forward without serious apprehension to a time in the not distant future when the United States can safely establish itself on a free-trade basis, and who is not, therefore, greatly alarmed at the prospect of a partial trial of the system.

Certain general facts, with which it is fair to presume that Englishmen are not familiar, need first to be set forth in order to make the present situation clear and to form the basis of conclu